Pneumatic piano-player.



VE. C. WAMELINK. PNEUMATICv PIAN-0 PLAYER.

APPLICATION FILED Mmes. 1909.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.,w^sH|NGTON, D. c.

EUGENE C. WAMELINK, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

PNEUMATIC PIANO-PLAYER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

Application filed March 29, 1909. Serial No. 486,372.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EUGENE C. 'Wann- LINK, citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Piano-Players, of which the following is a specification.

In piano players generally there has always been a long-felt desire to produce musicY in just the manner in which it would i be produced by a' master and bring out the VAthe accompaniment.

theme or melody and to subdue, as it were, This result has been attained with reasonable satisfaction on numerous types of instruments of this general class, vbut no considerable success has been attained in players ofthe pneumatic type. Devices, however, have been produced which in a measure accentuate or emphasize, as it were, a single portion of the music,v and with a skilful operator, and reader of music, these devices produce very good results, but as a general proposition instruments of this type are not operated by persons skilled in the art ofmusic, and the bringing out of the theme and the art of ac- ;centuating the melody and causing it to stand out from the accompaniment, is not accomplished so that the music rendered by the player does not, in any sense, represent the best rendering 'of any piece or the rendering which they author intended the piece should have. Y

The object of the present invention therefore, is to provide a pneumatic action for piano players arranged in a manner such that irrespective ofthe knowledge or skill in music of the operator, except possibly with the exception of sufficient understanding to set the devices for the proper tempo .and for the proper pedaling, the machine will speak the music just as it was intended to be rendered and will bring out the socalled melody note over and above the accompaniment and will cause the theme to predominate at all times.

More specifically the invention relates to a suitable action comprising a primary pneumatic, a secondary pneumatic and a power pneumatic, `together with a suitable device adapted to be actuated dierentially, and by varying the volume of air admitted through the tracker board, control the operation of thefpower penumatic in a manner to cause itto speak the accompaniment in ordinary tones and emphasize such tones as are necessary in the production of the theme or melody.

The invention further relates to certain details of construction and arrangement hereinafter set forth in the following description, drawings and claims.

Referring to the drawings Figure l represents in a more or less diagrammatic way a tracker board and its connection with a pneumatic action which is shown in longitudinal vertical section.

In carrying out the invention any preferred form and construction of parts may be employed so long as they possess the necessary features, but in the drawings a construction is shown which meets the requirements very effectively and in such embodiment 1 represents the tracker board which is of any preferred construction and is provided with suitable openings 2 for the entrance of the air which is admitted through suitable openings in the sheet of music 3. The sheet of music is provided with two sizes of openings 4l and 5. The openings 4c are widerA thany the openings 5 and permit a greatervolume of air to pass in through the opening in the ktracker board. The tracker board is provided with a tube G leading from each opening 2 and each of these tubes is 'connected by a suitable flexible pipe 7 with corresponding pneumatic action. u

The pneumatic actions are all of a like construction and each comprises a suitable casing member 8 having a vacuum chamber 9 communicating by a port 10 with the bellows not shown. This chamber 9 communicates by other ports 11 with another vacuum chamber 1Q on the opposite side of a partition 13 which has an inwardly projecting flange 14, and which is provided withA a tracker board air chamber V15 formed by the iiange 14 and a diagram 16 which is secured to the casing and at the center to a sleeve or stem 17 and has a bleeder open- *of afspring 21 and for a purpose to be later ing rod 27 carrying an outside air valve 28 adapted to seat itself upon a tubular member 29 secured in a suitable opening in the chest 23. This tubular member 29 is open to the atmosphere except that a supporting web or strip 30 crosses the opening diametrically and carries a guiding member 31 for the operating rod 27. A spring 32 is mounted between the supporting web 30 and the valve 28 and normally tends to shift it and the valve 26 to the right, so that the latter is closed and the former, the valve 28, is open so that .free air may pass to the power pneumatic normally and permit it to expand with the weight of the abstract not shown, and when in this position it is ready for operation.

The operating rod 27 passes loosely through the sleeve or stem 17 and through a tubular member 33 secured to the casing and in alinement with the tube 22 and is guided in a member 34 mounted in the perforated end 34 of the tube. Supported upon this tubular member 33 is a secondary pneumatic casing 35 supporting a suitable diaphragm 36 which is rigidly secured to the end of the operating rod'27. This casing has a chest 37 in which is mounted a primary pneumatic valve member 38 having ports 39 therein communicating with the primary pneumatic air chest 37. A central opening 40 leads from the ports 39 to the outside of the primary pneumatic valve "member 38. Slidably mounted in this valve member 38 is a rod 41 carrying at its upper end a valve 42 adapted to close the port 40.

Threaded upon the lower end of the valve member'A 38 is a primary pneumatic casing 43, having mounted therein a suitable diaphragm 44 secured to a disk 41 on the lower end of the rod 41. On the opposite side of this diaphragm is a chamber 45 adapted to y receive tracker board air through a suitable pipe 46 connected to a suitable opening 47 in the casing. This opening is in communication with a connection 43 leading to the tracker board air chamber 15 and connected to the pipe 7 of the tracker board. A suitable pipe or connection 49 is arranged between the primary pneumatic casing and openingr 50 leading tothe vacuum chamber 12 whereby the vacuum in such chamber, which is conveyed to it through the openings 11 from the chamber 9, is extended to the primary pneumatic casing.

When the bellows not shown are started and a vacuum is created through the opening 10 in the chambers 9 and 12 and upon the left side of the secondary pneumatic 36 and upon the upper' side of the diaphragm in the primary pneumatic casing and tracker board air is admitted through an opening in the sheet of music, the incoming air from the tracker board passes into the tracker board air chest 15 and causes the diaphragm 16 to be flexed to the right on account of the vacuum in the chamber 12 and this operation moves the valve disk 19 away from its seat and against the tension of its spring 29 a sufiicient amount to permit the vacuum to act through the tube 22 and power pneumatic air chest 23 upon the power pneumatic, the valve 28 being closed and the valve 26 being open by reason of the action of the secondary pneumatic diaphragm 36 to the left which operation is caused by reason of the admission of air under the primary pneumatic valve 42 which has been raised by the passage of tracker board air through the pipe 46 at underside of the diaphragm 44. This operation takes place irrespective of the amount of air admitted through the perforations in the sheet of music coperating with the tracker board, but the volume of air admitted from the tracker board necessarily determines the eX- tent to which the diaphragm 16 is flexed to the right and this determines the extent to which the valve disk 19 is moved from its seat and in this way regulates the volume of air passing from the power' pneumatic. Therefore the volume of air admitted from the tracker board determines the force with which the power pneumatic operates and in a slight degree varies the quickness with which it operates. Then there is no air passing from the tracker board then the spring is free to move the valve disk to the left and toward its seat by reason of the fact that the tracker board air is exhausted from the tracker board air chest through the bleed 16 in the diaphragm 16.

From the foregoing it will be seen that by varying the size of the openings in the sheet of music, the quickness and the force of the blow of the power pneumatic may be varied. Hence if the perfor-ations corresponding to the melody notes or theme in any composition be increased in width over the openings of the accompaniment, then the melody or theme will be spoken more quickly or it might be said slightly in advance of the remaining notes and the thelne will be rendered in just the manner in which it was originally recorded and if it be recorded by the composer in just the manner in which he intended it to be played, then any operator mav produce any composition without being skilled in the art of music.

By the applicants device the problem and question as to the rendering of the theme of any piece of music or composition is not left to the unskilled operator but is taken care of automatically by the machine itself.

Having described my invention,I claim l. In a piano player', a tracker board, a chest, al power pneumatic for each note, valve mechanism for controlling each power pneumatic, motor means for actuating said valve mechanism, and a single governing device actuated by outside air for controlling the operation of the motor means.

2. In a pneumatic piano player, in combination, a tracker board, a pneumatic action having a single connection with the tracker board and comprising a power pneumatic, a vacuum chest communicating with the power pneumatic, a valve for closing such communication, means operated by air from the tracker board for operating said valve and establishing communication between the power pneumatic and the vacuum chest, another valve arranged between said valve and the vacuum chest normally tending to throttle the same opening and prevent the passage of air from the power pneumatic to the vacuum chest, and a device actuated by the tracker board air for shifting such governing means and permitting the power pneumatic to operate to an extent directly in accordance with the volume of air admitted from the tracker' board, and means for varying the volume of air admitted by the tracker board.

3. In a piano playerfaction, in combination, a vacuum chest, a power pneumatic, a controlling valve for said power pneumatic, a valve stem carried thereby, a sleeve surrounding said stem, a throttling valve carried thereby, a secondary pneumatic for operating said stem, a primary pneumatic for shifting said secondary pneumatic, and another pneumatic connected to said sleeve and to the casing and adapted to control the throttling valve.

4. In a power pneumatic action, in combination, a vacuum chest having a partition therein separating it into two chambers, a power pneumatic, a suitable connection for the power pneumatic and having a port leading into one of the chambers of the vacuum chest, a controlling valve arranged in the connection between the vacuum chest and the power pneumatic, a rod for operating said valve, a secondary pneumatic for shifting said rod, a primary pneumatic for controlling the operation of the secondary pneumatic, a sleeve mounted upon said rod, a throttling valve mounted on said sleeve and adapted to normally seat upon the port leading to the power pneumatic, a pneumatic connected to said sleeve and to the partition for shifting said throttling valve against its normal tendency, and a flexible seal between the partition and said sleeve to permit the latter to move freely.

. 5. In a pneumatic piano player action, in combination, a vacuum chest having a partition therein separating it into two chambers, a power pneumatic, a suitable connection having a port establishing communication between the power pneumatic and one of the chambers of the vacuum chest, a controlling valve mounted in said connection, a valve rod for operating said controlling valve and extending through the vacuum chest and through said partition, a secondary pneumatic for shifting said valve, a primary pneumatic for said secondary pneumatic, a sleeve upon said rod, a valve mounted upon said sleeve and adapted to throttle the opening leading to the power pneumatic from the vacuum chest, a pneumatic connected at its center to said sleeve and at its periphery to the partition, a flexible seal between the partition and said sleeve, and a spring normally tending to shift said throttling valve against its seat.

6. In a piano player action, in combination, a vacuum chest, a power pneumatic in communication therewith, suitable valve mechanism controlling the communication between the vacuum chest and the power pneumatic and comprising a valve and valve stem, motor means for operating the valve mechanism, and a sealing pouch arranged about the stem and secured to the vacuum chest forming a seal between the stem and the chest.

In testimony whereof I aiiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EUGENE C. WAMELINK. 1Witnesses G. O. FARQUHARsoN, B. REYNOLDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

